Cost, affordability and market share of heated tobacco products

Heated tobacco products (HTPs), especially IQOS, have been aggressively promoted by the tobacco industry in recent years and they are increasing in popularity in several markets. Using data from the Euromonitor International Passport database collected in December 2017, we compared the price of 20 HEETS sticks with the price of 20 conventional cigarettes (Marlboro) in each country and estimated the affordability of HEETS and IQOS heating devices across 32 countries. We also estimated the Pearson correlation coefficient between the HEETS-Marlboro price difference and the market share of IQOS in each country. We found that price and affordability of IQOS varies across countries. In most, but not all countries, the cost of 20 HEETS was similar to the cost of 20 Marlboro cigarettes. Market share was below 1% of the total tobacco market in almost all countries, although Japan had the highest market share at 14.28%. IQOS is marketed by Philip Morris International at similar prices as Marlboro cigarettes, their most popular brand of conventional cigarettes. Market share of IQOS was still low in most countries in 2017 and its success in certain market cannot be explained by price differences between HEETS and conventional cigarettes